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Late night eating.

Just wondering what everyone’s ideas/thoughts are on eating at night. Do you make a set time to stop eating? Are there certain foods to avoid at night? What if you’re hungry right before bed? Thanks!

Comments

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    I know a lot of rawies won’t eat past 9 pm. Not sure why though – something to do with digestion I think. I remember some raw foodies who got mad at a friend who owned a raw restaurant because he had it open past nine pm!

    For me, if I am hungry I eat. I can’t fall asleep if my stomach is growling. I don’t care if it is 3 am.

  • Morning_theftMorning_theft Raw Newbie

    I agree with queenfluff… Can’t sleep when I’m to hungry… But I do try not to eat too late and usually have a snack around 9-10ish. One take on it I heard was- when it’s dark out, you can’t see your food so you shouldn’t be able to eat! I thought that was cute. But really, late it’s better to keep it light, things that would leave your stomach fast like fruit, otherwise you won’t digest it because your body doesn’t use any energy on digestion when you sleep and it could cause fermentation.

  • I read that between 9-12 the best things to eat are: mango, cherries, strawberries, red plums perssimons, pomegranate, watermelon, and tomato.

    between 12-3 am: passion fruit(4-6 will help you sleep like a baby) and lemon juice.

  • I have heard that you should not eat for 3 hours before you go to sleep. When you sleep, your metabolism slows down, so your body has difficulty digesting food. I have also heard that you shouldn’t eat after 7.

    However, if you are hungry late at night, then of course you should eat. Listen to your body. Only light foods should be consumed (grapes, smoothies, bananas, mangos, etc.)

    I hope that was helpful. Peace

  • Thanks for the insight ladies. Rawdoll its funny you mention strawberries. Strawberries have been so cheap lately. I’ve been eating strawberries with a little cinnamon and cashew butter as a 930ish snack. Its kind of like strawberry shortcake. Queenfluff and Morning_theft indeed falling asleep when your hungry, not easy! Sara, I have heard something similar about metabolism, but I’ve also heard that the only thing that effects your metabolism is exercise and you get a bit of an increase for about 18 hours for women 40 hours for men afterwards(sucks for women, eh?) mmmhmm. I’m wanting some “living experts” or people who have had experience and can share their experiences (like you all:). OR a scientific study that hasn’t been sponsored by some corporation. okay….sort of on a rant…

  • it is extremely important to get 7-8 hours sleep, I normally go to bed between 11-12pm and wake up at 7 am, you need to go in bed with empty stomach for a better sleep, I just drink 1 full glass of water to keep me hidrated during sleep, during niht your body realise melatonin which is extremely beneficial in healing your body, did you ever notice when you have a little pain or headache, you go to bed and in the morning everything just disappeared? It is extremely important to have a very good sleep in order to obtain optimal health, you don’t want to ruin your sleep with your stomach busy digesting food! :-)

  • I don’t know if its just me, but if I go to bed on a full stomach I wake up EXTREMELY tired no matter how much sleep I got. I definitely think its better to not eat after 7pm, that way the body has time to digest and can actually rest when we sleep. However, I never practice what I preach, a growling stomach is hard to ignore!

  • Hi Odalys

    It is normal, if you eat a lot before going to bed your stomach will be busy to break down your food and so that will influence the quality of your sleep. Make sure your curtains can cover any light coming from outside, it is extremely important to sleep in complete darkness as it is when is very dark that melatonin production reach it’s maximum pick, and melatonin has a very important role in rejuvinate and heal your body.

  • Anyway, always use your common sense, listen to your body, never be so hard or strict with it, if you really can’t resist eating try something light, a slice of watermelon, 1 apple or other fruit, when your body is full of nutrients from fruits, plants, seeds and nuts and full of antioxidants from superfoods you can get away with nearly anything without great problems :-)

  • dancharming – i had no idea about the importance of sleeping in darkness. I looked up melatonin on wikipedia and found some really interesting things.

    It can cure headaches, depression, adhd, and infertility!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin

  • Hi Odalys

    I’m glad I gave you an insight about melatonin, it is extremely important for your body and it is produced only at night while sleeping in the dark, make sure in your room there are not many lights coming in from the street.

  • Dancharming, you seem to have a lot of clarity on the subject, so let me ask you something. Since the day I was born, I have never been a great sleeper. I have been taking melatonin nightly for the past, nearly 9, years. Can your body develop a resistance to this? Do you think this is unhealthy?

  • Dear Rawmama

    Please don’t take Melatonin supplements, I would exercise extreme caution in using it, and only as a last resort, as it is a powerful hormone. Ideally it is best to increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime (along with full spectrum fluorescent bulbs in the winter) and absolute complete darkness at night. One should get blackout drapes so no light is coming in from the outside.

    Your body definetly develop a resistance, the best and safest way to obtain melatonin is the natural way I wrote above. 

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